Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

It's, far as I know, a carved sapphire marked Cartier.

APPRAISER

Wow.

GUEST

I got it for a birthday one year, found it at a flea market in our area.

APPRAISER

Okay.

GUEST

My husband got it for me, just fell in love with it. And what did you pay for it? Some hundreds, not more than $1,000. When was that? Ten or so years ago.

APPRAISER

This is a carved sapphire, I would say right around 1920 to 1925.

GUEST

Okay, okay.

APPRAISER

It's a beautiful flower motif on the top. Around early 1900s, Cartier became fascinated with Indian-carved gemstones.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

This particular stone, I believe, would be a Ceylon sapphire, it's a lighter-color sapphire.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

It's not as saturated as, let's say, a Burma sapphire would be. But Cartier didn't care if it was really that saturated. They just wanted the design. We have platinum shoulders with small diamonds on either side, in that triangular shape. It's also enhanced by black enamel. It goes all the way around the sapphire. It's almost bezel-set, if you will. There's no prongs, and the enamel work is in excellent condition. It's also signed Cartier.

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

It's stamped inside, and it is a New York piece. The base metal is platinum, and then it's also 14-karat white gold on the bottom.

GUEST

Oh.

APPRAISER

I would say auction estimate would be between $5,000 and $7,000.

GUEST

Oh, my goodness.

APPRAISER

Yeah.

GUEST

Oh, my goodness. Great, thank you.